I-Corps: Reactor Neutrino Detector Technology

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力涉及中微子探测器技术在商业反应堆中微子工业和核不扩散核查计划中的潜在应用。中微子是为核反应堆提供动力的核裂变的自然副产品。由于中微子的相互作用非常弱，它们会流出核心，穿过所有的屏蔽层，而不会以任何方式改变。因此，这些中微子携带着有关核心裂变反应的信息，如反应堆功率和参与裂变反应的同位素混合物，这些信息可能很难用常规技术确定。通过探测反应堆中微子，有可能描绘出核心区裂变反应的空间分布。这些信息可以用来提高反应堆燃料燃烧的效率。可以跟踪核中钚的生产，并记录其从核中的移除，这可以用来确保不会有材料被转移到其他手段，这对核不扩散应用中的监测有用。这个i-Corps项目将进一步开发一种新的反应堆中微子探测器技术。这项技术使用了一个高度分段的探测器，由塑料闪烁体立方体组成，按平面排列，由用于标记中子的第二个闪烁体薄片分隔。将这两个元素结合在一起，可以清楚地识别探测器中反应堆中微子相互作用的两部分特征。以前的反应堆中微子探测器需要数米的屏蔽才能测出宇宙射线，而宇宙射线是最大的本底来源。在这个探测器中，分段被用来识别反应堆中微子相互作用的特定模式，并排除否则会压倒罕见中微子事件的背景。最近在一个商业反应堆上部署了一个原型探测器，结果对中微子进行了积极的观测，证明了这种减少本底的独特方法的可行性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project concerns potential applications of neutrino detector technology to the commercial reactor neutrino industry and verification schemes for nuclear nonproliferation. Neutrinos are a natural byproduct of the nuclear fission that powers nuclear reactors. Since neutrinos are only very weakly interacting, they stream out of the core, and through all the shielding, without being changed in anyway. Therefore, these neutrinos carry information about the fission reaction in the core, such as the reactor power and the mix of isotopes that are participating in the fission reaction, which may be hard to determine using conventional techniques. By detecting reactor neutrinos, it may be possible to image the spatial distribution of the fission reaction in the core. This information could be used to improve the efficiency of the reactor fuel burn. Plutonium production in the core could be tracked, and its removal from the core recorded, which could be used to ensure that no materials get diverted to other means, useful for monitoring in nuclear nonproliferation applications.This I-Corps project will further develop a new reactor neutrino detector technology. This technology uses a highly-segmented detector, made of cube of plastic scintillator, arrayed in planes, which are separated by sheets of a second scintillator which is used to tag neutrons. Combined these two elements are used to cleanly identify the two-part signature of a reactor neutrino interaction in a detector. Previous reactor neutrino detectors required meters of shielding to range out cosmic-rays which are the largest source of background. In this detector the segmentation is used to identify the specific pattern of the reactor neutrino interaction and reject backgrounds that would otherwise overwhelm the rare neutrino events. A recent deployment of a prototype detector to a commercial reactor resulted in a positive observation of neutrinos, demonstrating the feasibility of this unique approach to background reduction.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.